Second Havana Harbour Charrette - March 2008
Apr 9, 2011
The Cuban and Norwegian chapters of C.E.U. - Council for European Urbanism
In addition to the principles embodied in C.E.U.’s Stockholm Charter, the Cuban Chapter’s Launch Document, and the 2003 Havana Declaration, the Charrette’s participants embraced the following planning goals for the harbour masterplan:
1.A Spine boulevard. The creation of a public access promenade accessible to all along the waterfront to back up this general concept stated in the Master Plan for Havana. Plazas, squares, parks and a variety of promenades should be allowed to be part of this by framing views to the water and connecting adjacent streets.
2.Mixed use. The design of mixed - use buildings to guarantee the vitality of the area at different times. Residential, cultural, commercial, office, hotel, entertainment and sports, and leisure facilities are key uses to provide amenities able to redefine and give character to the site.
3.Change of character. The transformation of the current industrial character of the derelict harbour and its turning into a recreational, commercial and sport harbour to provide not only a new image but a vibrant life in the whole area.
4.New buildings respond to waterfront. The design of buildings that respond to the waterfront with sensitivity to the place’s context, history, geography and building culture in a way that they become urban architecture and help place making instead of isolated iconic objects.
5.Open space must add value to both the waterfront and the city and must be defined by buildings that form a continuous urban edge with active ground floors uses related to them.
6.Gate to the city. The harbour site must become a gate to the city reinforcing this historic condition and giving Havana a new image in terms of both economy and urban values.
7.Green. The green must help weave visually and physically the whole territory so it helps create a coherent landscape where architecture fits harmoniously and helps clean the environment by filtering noise and gases.
8.Public transportation. A public transportation system must be envisioned to connect the whole site and to provide access to all areas allowing the presence of citizens from all parts of the city.
9.Safe environment. Pollution must be eliminated as part of the sanitation of the bay and the rivers.
10. Social and cultural integration. The city, the towns, the neighbourhoods must guarantee that there’s no social exclusion for any reasons and should provide permanent access to cultural life and all its manifestations.
11. A long term vision. As everything is connected with everything else, then the approach should be a comprehensive one, which allows conceiving all the issues as a whole with a systemic approach coming from the general to the particular, zooming in processes, places, etc. Fragmentation and functional segregation from old zoning concepts should be avoided.
Planning Goals
see note 4 about sources for material on this page